Why Marvel’s New ‘Spider-Man’ Will Not Be What You Expect

The new Spider-Man reboot will be very different from its predecessors, according to writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. The duo recently teased several details about the upcoming movie’s plot, confirming that fans shouldn’t expect just another retelling of the hero’s origin story.

The movie is still in the “extremely early” stages, but it’s slowly starting to take shape. As expected, the film will focus on a young Peter Parker (played by British actor Tom Holland) who is struggling to figure out how to deal with his abilities, while also facing plenty of high school issues. This time around though, audiences won’t be seeing the all-too-familiar story of how Peter got his powers.

“I think that everybody feels like we know he got bit by a spider and know that Uncle Ben died and we probably don’t need to revisit that,” Goldstein told Grantland’s Andy Greenwal in a new interview, captured in the video above.

Instead, the film will focus on capturing Peter as a real high school student, who is struggling equally with navigating his teenage life and his superhero identity. “We want to explore that. Just because you get superpowers doesn’t make you into a sophisticated, successful adult,” Goldstein stated. “He’s still a kid and he’s clumsy and he’s a geek and he’s a bit of an outcast and in many ways the superpowers amplify that and exacerbate his trying to fit in.”

This new emphasis on Peter’s high school experience – and not just his superhero one – is what made finding a younger star like Holland so important. “It’ll be a fun departure from the Peter Parker that you’ve seen where now, he is truly a kid,” Daley explained. “And I think the stakes are increased in that his struggle through high school is very real and isn’t just a sort of side note. It matters now.”